Dec 10

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Dec. 10, 2019 Week: 50  Day: 344

86004:   H 44° \ L 16° \ Average Sky Cover: 15%

Nearest lightning:  283mi

Nearest active fire:  468mi.  

Wind:   7mph\Gusts:  8mph  Visibility: 10 mi

Record High: 65°[1939]   Record Low: -10°[2013]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“It is no longer good enough to cry peace,

we must act peace, live peace and live in peace.”

– Leon Shenandoah, Onondaga chief

~ Native American Proverb

Observances This Week

3-10

Clerc-Gallaudet Week Link

3-24

Andisop (Meterological Fiddling  Link

10-17

Human Rights Week

Observances for Today

Dewey Decimal System Day
Human Rights Day  Link
International Animal Rights Day  Link
Jane Addams Day
National Lager Day

Nobel Prize Day

My Rambling Thoughts

Our retirement group meets tomorrow for our Christmas lunch and gifting. I headed out to World Market/Cost Plus for some gifts. I found the gifts quickly, then wandered the store…always dangerous to my credit card. They have amazing Christmas stuff. I walked out spending about 5 times more than I intended. I got other Christmas presents, some cute decorations, and some Christmas breads. A very good visit. As much as I like the store, I only go there for gifts for our retirement group…if I went more often, my house would look like their store and my weight gain would be easily observed.

Today’s hearings are a tad more contentious than previous ones. I guess watching ‘democracy in action’ is just like watching ‘hot dogs being made step by step’.

Saw the New Zealand volcanic eruption on the internet machine. While it was erupting there were at least 30 travelers from Royal Caribbean Cruise line on the island. Scary for sure.

Here we go again…Russia has been banned from the Olympics and the World Cup for years ahead. This time it has to do with drug enhancements of the athletes. I was not a big fan of the USSR ban back in the 80’s and the related US ban four years later. The Olympics are about ATHLETES, and should not be about politics. And yes, I realize there is politics in the Olympics, but I don’t like athletes who have worked much of their life preparing to miss their usual one chance to participate. This ban is different. This time athletes who used banned substances can’t participate but ‘clean’ athletes from those teams can participate, just not under their country flag or hear their National Anthem if the take gold. This appears to be the best solution to a difficult solution.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

f it takes two men 4 hours to dig one hole, how long does it take them to dig half a hole?

Historical Events

Nobel Prize Day

1901 First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy

1946 German/Swiss novelist Hermann Hesse wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"

1950 Ralph Bunche (1st black American) presented the Nobel Peace Prize for mediation in Israel

1959 Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Sicilian writer Salvatore Quasimodo for his lyrical poetry

1960 Willard Libby wins the Nobel prize in Chemistry for his work developing carbon-14 dating (radiocarbon dating).

1964 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo

1967 Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in Stockholm

1976 Samuel C. C. Ting is the first person to deliver a Nobel Prize lecture in Mandarin, during the ceremony to award him and Burton Richter the Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the J/ψ particle

1978 Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

1983 Danuta Walesa, wife of Lech Wałęsa, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize

1984 South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is presented with his Nobel Peace Prize

1986 Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

1994 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat

2009 US President Barack Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

…other events

1033 (Earthquake) Ramala (West Bank)

1478 - Arte dell'Abbaco ('The Art of the Abacus'), the first teaching math book, was printed and distributed in Treviso, Italy. Author unknown.

1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica was published.

1817 – Mississippi became the 20th US state.

1845 - British engineer Robert Thompson patented the first pneumatic (air pressured) tires.

1869 - Montana granted women the right to vote.

1884 -Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published.

1899 - George Safford Parker was issued a US patent (#635,700) on his improved fountain pen.

1936 Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson

1948 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

1955 - The Mighty Mouse Playhouse began a long-standing "Saturday Morning Cartoon' tradition on CBS.

1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped, then released after $250,000 ransom was paid. The kidnappers were all caught a few days later.

1965 - The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.

1966 - #1 Hit: The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations

1967 - Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays were killed in a Wisconsin plane crash.

1983 - #1 Hit: Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson - Say, Say, Say

1988 - #1 Hit: Chicago - Look Away

2009 - Avatar was released in theaters.

2017 Governor of California Jerry Brown tours Southern Californian wildfires and declares them "the new normal"

2018 Theresa May cancels UK parliament vote on Brexit bill in face of certain defeat

2018 Emmanuel Macron announces in TV address rise in minimum wage and tax concessions after weeks of civil unrest

Birthdays Today

@81 - Dorothy Lamour, American actress and singer (died in 1996)

67 - Susan Dey, American actress

@62 - Chet Huntley, American journalist

     (died in 1974; lung cancer)

62 - Paul Hardcastle, English composer

59 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Ireland-born English actor director, producer, and screenwriter

58 - Nia Peeples, American singer

@55 - Emily Dickinson, American poet

     (died in 1886)

55 - Bobby Flay, American chef

45 - Meg White, American drummer

41 - Summer Phoenix, American actress

Puzzle answer:

t's impossible to dig half a hole. If you tried, you would just end up with a whole hole.

Dec 9

FYI: Any blue text is a link. Click to check it out!

Dec. 9, 2019 Week: 50  Day: 343

86004:   H 42° \ L 29° \ Average Sky Cover: 90%

Nearest lightning:  1870mi

Nearest active fire:  478mi.  

Wind:   5mph\Gusts:  8mph  Visibility: 8 mi

Record High: 62°[1977]   Record Low: -9°[2013]

Dec. Averages: 44°\17° (5 days with moisture)

Today’s Quote

“Man has responsibility,

not power.”

~ Tuscarora Proverb

Random Tidbits

In France, where tennis first became popular, a big, round zero on scoreboard looked like an egg and was called 'l'oeuf,' which is French for 'egg.'

When tennis was introduced in the U.S., Americans pronounced it 'love

Observances This Week

1-7

Cookie Cutter Week Link

National Hand Washing Awareness Week Link 

Recipe Greetings For The Holidays Week

Older Driver Safety Awareness Week  Link 

3-10

Clerc-Gallaudet Week Link

3-24

Andisop (Meteorological Fiddling  Link

Observances for Today

Cremation Day
Christmas Card Day

Green Monday Link 
International Anti-corruption Day
International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of National Pastry Day

The Victims of The Crime of Genocide and The Prevention of This Crime
Weary Willie Day  Link
World Techno Day Link

My Rambling Thoughts

A day of rain for this Sunday. Overcast, drizzle…not a day to be outside.

Slept very well on my new bed. Amazed at how high it is, but works great. It is not a bed to sit on while dressing, but is a bed for sleeping. Happy camper.

I grew up in Wheat Ridge, CO and learned from a young age that winter means snow. Recently read about the 25 Snowiest cities. Turns out Flagstaff @ 101.7” is 2^nd on the list; Denver is 25^th with 53.8”; Lakewood is 21^st with 55.8”; and Boulder, my alma mater, is 6^th with 88.5”. The bad news is that AZ is the 33^rd best run state with the 6^th highest unemployment at 4.8%; the 15^th highest poverty rate at 10.4%. Flagstaff has been known as ‘Poverty with a View’ for its high cost of living and beautiful scenery.

I downloaded Spotify and have great traditional Christmas music on my phone and wireless speaker. And it’s free.

Glad to hear the Broncos won. Had to follow it on the internet machine.

Today’s Puzzle

Answer at the bottom of this page

A farmer has 5 chickens, two horses, and a wife. How many feet are on his farm?

Historical Events

1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City.

1793 Noah Webster establishes New York's 1st daily newspaper, the "American Minerva"

1851 – The first YMCA in North America opened in Montreal, Canada.

1854 Alfred Tennyson's poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" is published in "The Examiner"

1868 The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.

1872 – P.B.S. Pinchback (Republican) became the first African-American governor of a US state, Louisiana.

1884 - The US patent (#308990) for ball-bearing roller skates, was issued to Levant M. Richardson.

1907 - Christmas Seals, an outreach from the American Lung association, went on sale for the first time, in the Wilmington, Delaware, post office.

1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy (now the Heisman Trophy) was awarded for the first time. The winner was halfback Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago.

1958 - In Indianapolis, the John Birch Society formed.

1960 - The Sperry Rand Corporation demonstrated the UNIVAC 1107 computer; the first to use thin film magnetic technology. The secret was the few millionths of an inch of iron-nickel alloy.

1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park was established in Arizona.

1965 - A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on CBS.

1972 - #1 Hit: Helen Reddy - I Am Woman

1975 - President Gerald R. Ford signed a $2.3 billion loan authorization to prevent New York City from having to default on its debts.

1978 - #1 Hit: Chic - Le Freak

1979 -The eradication of the smallpox virus was certified

1983 - Based on the 1932 film, Scarface, starring Al Pacino, was released in theaters.

1989 - #1 Hit: Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire

1990 Lech Wałęsa wins Poland's 1st direct presidential election in Poland

1992 - Prince Charles and Princess Diana formally announced their separation.

1993 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor completed repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope.

1997 - Microsoft Windows 2.0 was released.

2005 - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Memoirs of a Geisha and Brokeback Mountain debuted in theaters.

2008 The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama's election to the Presidency

2015 German Chancellor Angela Merkel named Time Magazine's Person of the Year, for her handling of debt and refugee crises

Birthdays Today

103 - Kirk Douglas, American actor

89 - Buck Henry, American actor and screenwriter

85 - Judi Dench, English actress

@85 - Grace Hopper, American admiral and computer

           scientist, designed COBOL

           (died in 1992)

@83 - Joseph Pilates, German-American fitness expert, developer of Pilates

      (died in 1967)

@81 - Tip O'Neill, American lawyer and politician,

          55th Speaker of the House of Representatives

          (died in 1994)

78 - Beau Bridges, American actor, director, producer

77 - Dick Butkus, football player, sportscaster, and actor

@74 - Tabitha Babbitt, Shaker, American inventor

           (died in 1853)

@68 - Redd Foxx, American actor

           (died in 1991; heart attack)

@68 - Morton Downey Jr., American singer-songwriter,

            actor, and talk show host

            (died in 2001; lung cancer)

67 - Michael Dorn, American actor

66 - John Malkovich, American actor

@65 - John Milton, English writer and philosopher

           (died in 1674)

62 - Donny Osmond, American singer and actor

57 - Felicity Huffman, American actress

53 - Kirsten Gillibrand, American politician

24 - McKayla Maroney, American gymnast

Puzzle answer:

Just four. His wife has two feet, he has two feet, each chicken has two claws, each horse has four hoofs.